Shimano XT Caliper noise

I have been running Shimano deore brakes for the last couple of seasons on my hardtail. I have had hayes elcamino and nines in there as well on some of my bikes. Prior to the shimano I had juicy sevens (good brakes, but could never get lever feel to my liking).

I have been running an xt setup on my bike for the last 4 months. In that time the rear caliper has been very hard to keep quiet. At this point I have changed the rotor and pads. That didn't fix it. So I have added a chamfer to the outer edges of the pad (EBC Gold, sintered pad) and that seems to have fixed it. Now the front has started to howl (I sanded the pads and put on a new rotor). I put on a set of M07S pads today, and completely quieted the fronts as well as toned them down a bit.

Okay, is it totally common for XT or Shimano brakes to just be noisy? I get that impression after talking to a couple of local mechanics and a few riding friends. What is your experience with shimano hydraulic brakes?? I can't say that I ever had issues with the cheap deore setups that I ran, but obviously my current XT setup has been a lot of trial and error.

I run Shimano LX and XT brakes. The XTs came stock, and I havent had any problems with that one yet- its been very quiet, although they do squeal when wet.

The LX one was a bit noise (the drag noise) when I first installed them. It was a real paint to get them aligned correctly to the rotor. But after the alignment was made properly, they were very quiet as well- but howled when they were wet.

Personally, I think that Shimano makes good brakes, and they are very quiet.

Are you using the rotor that came with your Shimano calipers, or an aftermarket/different branded one?

Yeah, I am definitely in the playing around phase. The frame is faced. I have used both formula 185 and shimano 203 rotors. I have tried M06, M07, M07S, and EBC Gold pads thus far. The only pads that have been overwhelmingly quiet are the resin shimano pads. I am running an M07S in the front, depending on how it holds up I may try that compound on the back. The EBC golds are doing well since the chamfer mod (my last ride had over 2K vertical descent followed by creek crossings and another hour or so of up and down, no noise). I should also add that I have run the caliper on a couple of different frames with simillar noise results. Lastly I swapped from avid adapters to Shimano one's just to eliminate that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

2 years of XT 760 use...no extreme noise..no complains...several rotors sizes and pad compounds...including EBC gold..... with the EBC gold I got some minor howling when the pads got really warm...... I like the Shimanos so much, I switched my other bike to LX a couple months ago.... no complains so far...

Don't get me wrong, I like the shimano hydros. This particular set has just given me a bit of run around. I would still take shimano over the other offerings currently. I would still like to get some time in on a set of magura, but I have plenty of time on hayes, hope, and avid for comparison

If you liked the shimano resin pads, get the galfer pads last twice as long lasting for the same price and they are both quiet and good stoppers. I still find the ol XT metallic pads by far the best mileage bang for the dollar.

Update:
A few more rides under the new pads. Resin pads up front are dead quiet and are actually very nice coupled with the 8in rotor. The beveled EBC gold is still holding quiet, but does hint on occasion that it would like to revert to its howling state. No death squeal though, so I will count it as a success.

Update:
A few more rides under the new pads. Resin pads up front are dead quiet and are actually very nice coupled with the 8in rotor. The beveled EBC gold is still holding quiet, but does hint on occasion that it would like to revert to its howling state. No death squeal though, so I will count it as a success.

Great... that should be normal..the metal pads are a little noisier (meaning occasional noise, but not constant)... I hope it stays like that!